Description:
the earliest recorded image of the velocipede, or hobbyhorse, in the British Museum, a caricature of the dandy obsession with the new mode of personal transport, original hand-coloured engraving, 170 x 335mm., trimmed into the image, slight surface dirt, [BM Satires 13399], [1819] § [Heath (William) Attributed to. ] Every One His Hobby plate 2nd, depicting 8 caricature 'types', in 2 horizontal strips, each riding a velocipede formed from an appropriate object or animal, the 'Real Dandy Hobby' accurately drawn, original hand-coloured engraving, 215 x 315mm., slight surface dirt, [BM Satires 13408], Thomas Tegg, 1819 (2) A form of proto-bicycle was invented in 1813 by Baron Drais. The so-called 'draisine' was improved and patented in 1818 by Denis Johnson and became known as the 'velocipede' or 'pedestrian hobbyhorse', as it was powered by the running strides of the seated rider. By early 1819, it had become an object of popular fashion, much satirised in prints, these two examples dating from February and April of that year. But, by March 1819, it had been banned in London as a hazard in the already overcrowded streets.